Unlikely Haven
by princessmikey14
Summary: The group has been through a lot. They've lost people, they've gotten separated, and they've had to suffer to survive. Charlotte and Daryl happen upon an unlikely safe haven while they are out hunting. The only question is, how long will it be safe? Part two of All Things Must Come to an End. Daryl/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi y'all and welcome to the sequel of "All Things Must Come to an End". I decided to make it two stories and if I follow it all the way through season four then that'll be the end of this story. I'll do every two seasons so that the stories aren't too long. Please enjoy!**

"I think I picked out a name for the baby," Grace informed her mother as they were sitting in the back seat of the large vehicle. Carl, Aidan, and Suri were sitting in front of them, Nora and Shane were in the front seat, and Joey was sitting on Nora's lap as they searched for their safe haven.

"Oh yeah?" Charlotte asked. She decided to ride in the SUV because riding on the bike with Daryl for long times hurt her butt and her back. She loved being able to be so close to him and she liked keeping him company, but he even told her to just ride with Grace and everyone else. She hadn't gotten to spend much time with her daughter anyway.

"Yeah, I was thinking Annissa for a girl and Liam for a boy..."

"Annissa?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, I think it sounds unique and I could call her Annie for short."

"I think those are great names," she replied. Lori's baby was set to come any day and it wouldn't be much longer for Grace's. "What about middle names."

"Annissa Charlotte or Liam Shane."

"You would name your baby after me or your dad?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, of course I would...You guys were right about everything...and I know that you and dad sacrificed a lot when you got pregnant with me...Dad could've had a baseball career and you could've-"

"Grace, I wouldn't change having you when I did for anything and I know your dad wouldn't either."

"I know..." Grace had leaned to appreciate the whole situation with her mother and father. And, even when the two got divorced, they stayed close and made sure that she and Aidan turned out to be good.

"Hey Shane, when are we stopping?" Charlotte called to the front of the vehicle.

"I don' know," Shane replied. "Soon, I think."

"Okay," Charlotte said.

They drove for another hour before Rick, who was driving the car in front of them, pulled over. Everybody piled out of the vehicles. Charlotte was just happy to stretch her legs. They had been driving for nearly four hours and she didn't like sitting still to begin with. She walked over and stood next to Daryl, bumping his arm with his shoulder. She smiled at him as he nudged her back playfully.

"Wanna go with me to hunt 'round a bit?" Daryl asked her. She nodded. "We'll be back," he told Rick and Shane, who were standing there too. The two men nodded and went back to talking about whatever.

"So are we actually gonna hunt or...?"

"We're gonna hunt," he replied. He wouldn't do what she was suggesting out in the middle of the woods. It was just stupid and it would get them both killed.

"Did Rick tell you anything, as far as where we're supposed to be headed?"

"Jus' headin' west 'til we find a place."

"Lori and Grace aren't going to last too much longer...Lori especially."

"I kno'."

They walked into the woods and Charlotte knew to stay quiet as he looked for tracks. She figured that he just wanted the company. As Daryl was studying the ground, Charlotte looked around them, trying to see something. Up ahead, there was an opening through the trees and she could see some sort of tower...

"Daryl," she whispered. He looked up at her and she began walking towards where she saw the stone tower. She paid attention to their surroundings. They all knew that a walker coud come out of nowhere at any moment. Dale had experienced that about a week ago...It was rough on the group to lose a person after going so long without losing anybody.

"'S a prison," Daryl said, when they got to the point where they could actually see it.

"Wouldn't that be pretty safe?" Charlotte asked.

"Hell yeah. High fences, thick walls, and plenty of places to keep watch..."

"Come on! Let's go tell the others!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back out of the woods.

"Hey mom, what's up?" Grace asked, seeing her mother run out of the woods. She was standing with Patrick and Beth against a car.

"I think I found an awesome place!" Charlotte hurried over to Rick and Shane were. They hadn't moved since before she and Daryl had gone into the woods. "Hey, what about a prison?"

"What about it?" Rick asked.

"We found a prison out there...Can't we stay there? It will be safe."

"If we clean it out. An' how many able bodies we really got for that?" Shane asked. "We coul' be bittin' off more than we can chew an' we're low on ammo."

"So we do it with knives. Daryl and Aidan have bows," Charlotte said.

"Why don't we drive up the road a ways an' you show it to me, we can check it out an' decide if we can do it," Rick suggested.

"Okay," Charlotte agreed. "Just me?"

"Yeah, we need somebody to watch over the place. The others are still down at the creek. We can be back before they are."

"Alright," she gave Daryl a quick kiss and followed Rick to the green car. They drove down the road in the direction that she had seen the prison.

Upon seeing the prison, Rick decided that it would be easy enough to clean out. They would take care of the yard today, and wait until tomorrow to do the inside. So, they went back and gathered the other members of the group and drove to the prison. Everyone exited their vehicles and Rick gathered them in a group to hand out jobs.

"Carl, Hershel, I want you two up in that tower; Carol, Aidan-" he looked over to Shane and Charlotte to make sure that they were okay with him sending their son up into the tower, they just nodded. "Lori, Grace, Nora, Patircik, and Beth, I want y'all to make as much noise as you can and draw the walkers to the fence to kill them that way. Maggie, Glenn, Shane, Charlotte, and Daryl, go up and draw the walkers away from the fence over there. Kill as man of them as you can. Nobody shoot until my signal. There's a lot of walkers that we need to get rid of...and I'll run for the gate so that no more can get though."

Having their jobs, everybody went to do them. It was kind of obvious why each person had which job. Being at the fence closer to the cars wasn't as dangerous as being at the other fence, plus, they were going inside part of it where there were already walkers. It wasn't going to be easy, but they would get it done.

"Pay attention, y'all. I don' wanna loose nobody today," Shane warned as they made their way up there. Charlotte took out her knife and was ready.

"If you see any walkers getting too close to Rick, shoot them," Carol instructed Aidan as they stood in the guard tower. He was glad to be up there instead of on the ground. He was a lot better with a gun than he was a knife. He was too short to reach most of the walkers with his knife so the gun-or his crossbow-was essential to keeping him safe.

"Got it," he replied, holding the rifle up. He scanned the area for Rick and quickly found him, preparing himself to run for the other gate.

When Rick bagan running, Carol and Aidan began shooting. They covered him all the way to the gate as he closed it. After that, the four people in the tower shot the rest of the walkers around them. They all worried about the short supply of ammo and what that would mean for when they actually got inside of the prison. What if they were just wasting their time out here and couldn't do anything inside?

That evening, there was a small campfire outside of the prison that mostly everyone was sitting around. Charlotte was sitting next to Grace as they talked a little bit about the baby and whatnot. Grace told her father about the names that she picked out for the baby.

"Ya don' have to name it after me," Shane said, reminding Grace a lot of her mother.

"I know, but I want to...You and mom are great..." Charlotte patted her daughter's shoulder, telling her that she was going to leave the two alone in her own way.

Charlotte walked over to the bus where Daryl was standing keeping guard. She started climbed up to stand beside him. "What do you think?"  
"'Bout what?"

"This? All of it...The prison..."

"I think it'll great. Safe too."

"I don't know how I feel about sleeping in a prison cell though..." she added.

"I ain't sleepin' in one," Daryl replied. "We'll find some place else..."

It was the little things that made Charlotte love him, she didn't know why, but that one statement brought a smile to her face taht she couldn't shake.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing...it's just...Do you really think that you can deal with me that much?"

"We've slept in the same bed 'fore," he shrugged.

"That's not what I mean," she replied. He did understand what she was saying, he just wasn't sure what to say to it. He knew that this was a whole different story than the farm. This wasn't the few days at the hotel, it was something more perminent-they hoped anyway. He wouldn't just be sharing a bed with her, he would be sharing living space.

"'M sure we'll manage," he said.

"Mm...I hope that this is what we've been looking for..."

"Ya've said that 'bout everywhere else too," he pointed out.

"Yeah, and I've meant it, just like I do now. But maybe we can catch a break for once."

**AN: I need to go back and watch season three. I apologize for the skipping around of this chapter it's nearly midnight on thursday as I'm writing this and I have school in the morning, but I know that I won't update this weekend if I don't do it tomorrow (friday) so I was just trying to hurry a bit. Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

The group had successfully made it inside of the prison. The cleaned out cell block C and were ready to make it home. Charlotte and Daryl walked up to the second floor where the balcony was and Charlotte led the way into the guard booth where there was clear glass for the top half of the walls.

"We should clean this out and make it ours," Charlotte suggested. Neither of them was comfortable with sleeping inside of a cell.

"'S got glass fer walls," Daryl replied.

"Only the top half. We can put up some dark sheets...and at least this had four walls. The cells only have three."

"A'right. It prolly won't be easy."

Charlotte shrugged. "This stuff if fun to me," she replied. When she and Shane first moved into their first house together, her favorite part was decorating each room. She could kind of do that now, she could at least position stuff where she wanted it.

"What 'bout that desk?" he asked, pointed to the wooden board that went all across the front of the room.

"I'll figure it out."

"A bed?"

"Drag in a mattress from an empty cell or something. Don't worry about it. Are you going with Rick to clean out another section of the prison?" she asked.

"Mm hmm. 'Re ya?"

"No, I'm gonna stay here with Carl, Grace, and Aidan. Plus, Shane's going...my kids need one of their parents around, I think." They realized it was dangerous for Grace and Aidan to be left completely alone.

"A'right."

"And, I've got a room to get set up," she grinned. He broke a soft smile. His features returned to their default as footsteps approached them.

"Mom," Aidan said.

"Yeah?"

"I want to go with dad and Daryl," the little boy said, his crossbow over his shoulder, just like Daryl.

"No," Charlotte said right away. "You and Carl both are staying here with Naomi, Suri, Grace, Beth, Patrick, Joey, Lori, and Nora."

"Why? I'm a good shot, they need me," he always wanted to help, Charlotte thought that his bravery was admirable, but it could also be stupid. If he rushed into a situation that was something far beyond his experience, it could get him hurt or worse. Aidan was smart when he was allowed into rough situations, but she worried about if he lost focus or something.

"They don't _need _you. We need you. You are a good shot, you're a great one, but who's going to protect the kids of you and Carl go? I know he wants to too. But, Naomi, Suri, and Joey can't shoot. Grace is pregnant and can't exactly run."

"There's Patrick and Beth," Aidan pointed out.

"You're a better shot than both of them, Patrick is just getting the hang of it. Aidan, I'm done arguing with you, we need you here," Charlotte said, using her motherly tone with him.

"Ugh!" Aidan exclaimed and stormed off. Charlotte just shook her head. He would cool off later. Maybe letting him work things out on his own wasn't the best parenting technique, but he needed to for him to grow up into a self sufficient adult. Charlotte and Daryl stepped outside of what would be their room and saw Rick and the others gathering by the door leading out of the cell block.

"Be careful," Charlotte said, getting on her tip toes and kissing his cheek. He nodded and kissed her quickly. He walked over to the group by the door and he gave her one last lingering glance.

"Shane, I want you to be careful," Nora said, looking at the much taller man carefully. The two were alone, standing by their neighboring cells.

"I will be," he replied. Their accents had drastic contrast, his was Southern and hers was British.

"I don't want you to die, Shane," she looked at him with her dark blue eyes, trying to tell him what she couldn't speak. He gave her a soft smile and pulled her into a quick embrace. He knew that they didn't have much time.

"I'll be a'right, Nor. Ya be careful here too, okay?"

"I will be. I have got my kids to take care of."

"I know," before he pulled out of their embrace, he pressed a soft to her dark hair. He wasn't quite sure how the two of them had gotten so much closer to quickly. They had been in the same car for most of the last few weeks so they had talked and kind of bonded. "I'll see ya, Nora."

She nodded and smiled as he walked away. She hoped that he and the rest of the group would be okay.

"What are you doing, mom?" Grace asked, standing at the doorway of the guard booth. Charlotte was on top of the table with a hammer in her hand, nails partially out of her mouth, and holding up a sheet.

"I'm makin' it so you can't see though the walls," Charlotte replied. Grace had to strain to hear her mom, on account of the nails in her mouth.

"Why?"

Charlotte turned around and looked over her shoulder at her daughter with a "Really?" type expression before returning to what she was doing.

"When you were pregnant with me, did you worry that you would mess up and screw up your baby's life?" Grace asked, walking into the room a little more. Charlotte finished the sheet that she was working on and pulled the nails out of her mouth before taking a seat on the desk.

"C'mere," she patted the space next to her. "Grace, when I found out I was having you, I was worried about that more than anything. You have taken all of this so much better than I did. You can ask your dad, I was a nervous wreck most of the time...You don't have a thing to worry about. You're going to be just fine. You've got me, you've got your dad, and Daryl, and a whole group of people to help you if you need it," Charlotte promised.

"It's just scary...does having a baby...hurt?"

"I won't lie, it's probably the most painful thing you'll ever experience...but it'll be worth it..." Charlotte left out the fact that she had the epidural on both pregnancies and Grace would have to give birth naturally.

Time went by rather quickly. Charlotte worked on the room she and Daryl would be sharing, the kids played, Grace, Beth, and Patrick talked, and the made the most of it. Everything was quiet...and rather peaceful even. It was the first time in a long time any of them had a moment to themselves to just think and do something normal.

But, of course, nothing good could ever last. They were lucky they got as long as they did. Rick ran though the gate to the cell block like a madman. He had his gun gripped tightly in his hand and the distress was evident on his face.

"Charlotte! I need you, now!" he shouted. Charlotte literally dropped what she was doing and hurriedly exited the room she was fixing up.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Hershel...he's been bit. I-I had to do something...I-"

Maggie, Glenn, and Carol came in, pushing Hershel on the cart. He had blood all over him and the lower portion of his leg had been hacked off. Charlotte looked at Rick in shock, but she knew what she had to to...she had to shut down and get into nurse mode. She had to save him. Maggie and Beth needed their father and she would need help when Lori and Grace went into labor. Hershel was too important to the group to loose.

**AN: Sorry, it was short. I'm trying to hurry up. I've got homework to get done...I like posting on mondays...I think I'll try to make it a weekly thing :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So I started reading "Divergent" yesterday. It is so awesome, and I honestly had to make myself take a break from reading so that I could write this for y'all. Reviews would make it worth it :)**

Hershel was alive. Nobody could promise that he could stay that way, but Charlotte had done the best that she could to stop the bleeding and it had been pretty successful.

"I'm going to go check on things if you all want to keep an eye on him," Charlotte said to Maggie, Beth, and Glenn. She had yet to see Daryl, but she heard Rick's voice outside of the cell. She walked out and saw him talking to Carl. He handed his son his handcuffs and Carl went back into the cell.

"How is he?" Rick asked.

"I'm not really sure...I tried everything that I could," she replied. "I'm hoping he'll be okay..." she kept her voice low, so that Maggie and Beth wouldn't hear. She didn't want to give them any negativity. "Is Daryl okay?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He's fine, he's not in here 'cause there's still prisoners in here...Live ones."

"What? How?"

"They've been livin' in the cafeteria apparently. Shane's out there keepin' an eye on them with Daryl...we're gonna take 'em to clear out their own cell block."

"I wanna help," Charlotte said. She didn't like sitting back and doing nothing. Shane could stay here and she had done all she could with Hershel and she didn't want to be there if something went wrong. That had always been the most difficult part of being a nurse, loosing a patient and then having to see the family react.

"Why don't you stay here?"

"Why should I?"

"Look, these guys are prisoners," Rick said. "You're a woman, I don' see it endin' too well. Besides, Shane's comin'."

"Fine, but next time, I'm going and he's staying."

"I'll tell him you said so," Rick replied.

"Ya tol' me ya'd make it look good," Daryl said, walking into what was now his and Charlotte's room. She was putting things where she wanted him when he walked in.

"I did," she agreed. "What do you think?"  
"'S nice, I like it."

"How did things go? Did you guy take care of things?"  
Daryl nodded. "The two of 'em 're in D now."

"Two?"

"Were five...Walker got one. Other two tried to kill us..."

"What?" Charlotte asked in surprise.

"We took care a it," he said, seeing her worry. He hated to see that look on her face, she would knit her brow and look at him with this...this look in her eyes that he couldn't really explain. She just had a different look whenever somebody close to her was put in danger and she couldn't do anything about it.

"What if those two turn out to be like the others?" Charlotte asked. "I don't know if I can feel safe, knowing that..."

"'S taken care of. Those two prolly can't hurt a fly," Daryl said. He knew they couldn't the one with the mustache was kind of pathetic. It was the other two that were now dead that made Daryl uneasy. They seemed like the dangerous type.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I jus' am, Charlotte. Nothin's happened to ya or the kids so far, has it?" she shook her head. "Ya gotta trust our judgement...Rick an' Shane agreed."

The fact that all three of them agreed to let the prisoners live made her feel a little better. Those three didn't share the same views on pretty much anything. "Okay..." she said. "Let's get some sleep then...I'm sure we're gonna have a busy day tomorrow..." she didn't know why, but it seemed like the coming days would be very eventful.

They were trying to get the dead walkers burned and out of the way. It had been about a weeks since Hershel had lost the bottom half of his leg. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was alive.

Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn were working to move the pile of dead walkers that the rest of the group had already dragged down there into the fire. Everybody else was in the court yard doing various things. Charlotte was speaking with Grace.

"I think I should go lie down...I'm tired..." Grace said softly.

"I'll walk you in there," Charlotte offered. "I think they'll be okay without me...It's not like I'm doing much anyway."

"You don't have to...You can if you want."

"I want to, Sweetie," Charlotte said. She and Grace began walking inside when a voice called them back.

"Charlotte, Grace," Patrick called. They waited for him to catch up and he began walking inside together. "Do you think you could help me with some shooting a little later? Maybe Naomi too?" he asked Charlotte.

"Uh, sure," she said. "That should be a problem..." She forgot that he wasn't the best shot, especially since the first time that they met he had greeted them with a shot gun.

"Thanks," he replied. "Naomi really should carry a gun...since almost all the other kids do..."

"I agree," Charlotte replied. They continued on into the cell block and Grace led the way to her cell on the second floor.

Grace reached out and put her hand on her cell door. She went to open it but this awful wailing caught their attention. Charlotte whipped around and pulled out her gun, not having a clue where the sirens could be coming from. She looked over the railing and saw walkers...inside the prison!

"Go, get in the cell, now," Charlotte commanded Patrick and Grace. Walkers were like cockroaches, when you saw one, ten more would be lurking around the corner. Her theory was that if they got in there now, quietly and kept the sliding door closed, they would be okay. She could only hope that her theory would be okay was correct, otherwise they would die today.

All hell broke loose outside. The walkers came in like a flood. It was like the dam had broken and now they had to fight their way through and not die.

Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn were far away from the rest of the rest of the group when the dam broke. They ran as fast as they could to get back and do something...anything to help.

Once they finally got to the group, they were each scanning the group for their families. They all cared about the rest of the group, but their families would always come first, it was just human nature.

Shane and Daryl shared a look when they didn't see Charlotte or Grace. Aidan and Naomi ran over to the two older men. "I don't know where mom and Grace are! They were here before!" Though Charlotte had simply walked Grace to go take a nap, she didn't tell anybody and Aidan hadn't known that she left because he was busy playing with the other children.

"Patrick's gone too," Naomi said.

"We'll find 'em," Shane said confidently. He was looking for Nora, Suri, and Joey still. He saw them with Beth and Hershel, climbing the stairs to go behind a fenced in area. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they were at least safe.

"Be quiet," Charlotte warned. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sat against the wall. She was sure that the walkers could smell them, if they tried, but they were on the second level and the walkers wouldn't have much of a reason to come up there.

"I just heard the door down there open..." Grace whispered lowly. Charlotte held her finger to her lips. She knew how dangerous it would be to see how it had opened. As much as she hated it, she couldn't make anybody else her priority. Grace was pregnant and she didn't want to risk the safety of Patrick or her daughter. She could only hope that whoever had opened the cell door would be okay. She hoped that the rest of group would be okay...

**AN: It's short again. Sorry. As I said before, I'm reading "Divergent" and I really, really, really want to get back to it! But, I felt the need to update today so I did...Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Charlotte was doing her best to keep her cool. She and Patrick were sitting closer to the door, Grace was further down the wall, holding her stomach protectively. The moans outside were growing louder and louder by the minute. Charlotte noticed the worried look on her daughter's face every time they heard one, it was awful. She wanted to do anything and everything to calm her child down, but she couldn't think of anything. They needed to stay quiet so they didn't draw attention to themselves.

All of a sudden, they heard footsteps, coming up the metal stairs. Everyone shared a look. Charlotte crossed her fingers and hoped that it was one of their group. But, she knew it was most likely not, they would've heard somebody or something. "Grace," Charlotte whispered. The teenager looked up at her mother. "Do you have a weapon in here?" she asked. Grace frowned and shook her head.

"I've got my knife..." Patrick said. Charlotte held her hand out for it and he gave it to her. She kicked herself for only bringing her gun outside with her. She had the gun, but she didn't want to risk the noise. She stood and waited for the walker to get close enough. When it reached through the bars to get her, she used the knife to stab it in the head through the cell bars. She was close enough to smell the awful smell of rotting flesh. She thought that she would be used to it by now, but the smell made her stomach churn uncomfortably. She pulled the knife out and covered her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket and gagged.

"You okay?" Patrick asked Charlotte gently. She nodded and turned back around, awaiting the other walkers. She knew that more would come now, it was never just one. There were always more near by. He stood beside her and looked over at Grace. She was still sitting on the floor, he wasn't sure if she could get up on her own, but he thought that she was safer there anyway.

"I have my little pocket knife..." Grace said, realizing that she did indeed have it on her. She had been carrying something larger, but had become very uncomfortable as her stomach grew.

"Toss it to me," Patrick said, holding his hands out, ready to catch it. She did and he caught it.

More walkers did arrive, as expected. Charlotte and Patrick did what they had to and killed them. It was a very strenuous exercise, actually. They had to get the right aim on the walkers head and that was difficult though the bars.

Daryl stood back as people began to gather outside of the prison. He and Rick had taken care of Andrew, the prisoner that had caused all of this already. They were in the court-yard and everybody that had gone into hiding was now emerging. The only trouble was, Charlotte wasn't among them. He still hadn't seen any sign of her, Grace, or Patrick. It was like they had just vanished into thin air. As the minutes past, Aidan became more and more apprehensive. He feared that he had lost his mother for good this time.

A door swung open and the two looked up expectantly. But, they were disappointed to see that it was Maggie and Carl rather than Charlotte and Grace...Naomi made her way over to Daryl and Aidan, feeling like she was in the same boat as them. She took Aidan's hand and gripped it tightly. Her features stayed frozen in a pout.

Something was wrong when Maggie and Carl walked out...there was a bundle of something in their arms and their cheeks were tear soaked. Shane knew right away, and he couldn't say that he wasn't upset about it...It wasn't that he loved Lori or even cared much for her. She was manipulative and even kind of annoying at times, but he knew that he could possibly be held responsible for Lori's death. What if that baby over there was his? Then what?

"She's-?" Rick asked. Shane could see by the way that Rick was carrying his shoulder that he was feeling the same way that Shane was.

Daryl noticed that this situation was turning to one that was going to be about Lori and the baby. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was that he needed to find Charlotte and the others first.

"C'mon, Aidan," Daryl said.

"Where're we goin'?" Aidan asked.

"To find yer mom," the older of the two replied simply. Aidan jumped at the opportunity and followed Daryl back into the prison. He decided to start in their cell block, it seemed like the most obvious place.

"What's up there?" Aidan saw walkers gathered around one of the cells on the second level.

"Dunno. Let's go find out..."

"Dammit, I don't know how much longer I can do this," Charlotte said as another walker fell. This was wearing her out more than she would've expected. Her arms were tired and the number of walkers wasn't decreasing at all. It seemed like every time they killed one, another two would take its place.

"Stay strong, mommy," Grace said. "I...I wish I could help you..."

"Stay over there," Charlotte said quickly. Grace's safety was her first priority.

It seemed to happen all at once, the walkers were going the opposite way and then they dropped. She didn't hear anything over the loud moans and groans of the walkers. The smell had gotten worse and she was just powering through it.

"Hello?" a voice called. "Somebody in 'ere?"

Charlotte knew that voice, she knew that voice very, very well. Daryl. "We are!" she called, sliding the door open and walking out to meet he and Aidan. The little boy hugged his mother's waist and she wrapped her arms around him too. "I'm okay, sweetie," she whispered, bending down to his height.

"I was worried..."

"I'm sure you were. We just got trapped up here when everything started..."

Daryl held out a set of arrows to Aidan and put his own away. Aidan accepted them and did the same. Charlotte gave Daryl a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation. It still took him a second to react to her and wrap his arms around her, but he was getting better about it.

"Thank you for saving us," she murmured. She looked over her shoulder to Aidan. "And thank you."

Daryl nodded. "Lori had 'er baby..."

"She what?" Charlotte backed up and looked at him worriedly. "When? How?"

"Dunno the details," he shrugged.

"She didn't make it," Aidan said quietly. Charlotte knitted her brow and frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. If it happened to Lori, who had given birth before, what hope did that give her for Grace's baby?

"We should go back out there and see what we can do," Charlotte suggested. Daryl and Aidan nodded.

"We're just going to stay here a while," Patrick said, looking over at Grace. Charlotte nodded and went on her way. Patrick bent down to Grace, who was still on the floor, and offered her a hand. She smiled and accepted it. He pulled her to her feet and she blushed deeply.

"I'm sorry, I'm kind of heavy now..." she frowned, thinking about how all of this could've been avoided.

"'S okay. I'm glad to help," he replied.

"I appreciate it, really." She looked up, meeting his blue eyes for a moment, but then she looked away blushing. "I never wanted any of this...y'know," she whispered.

"All of what?" Patrick asked curiously.

"I didn't want to be a mom...not so young anyway. I didn't even want to...well y'know...with my boyfriend...but he told me how it was probably going to be my only chance and that everybody needed to experience it once in their life. And, I thought that I loved him. But...he just changed. He became something awful..." Grace didn't know why she was telling him this; she felt that it was important to though.

"What happened to him?"

"Somebody killed him," she said without any emotion.

"Do you know who?"  
"Not specifically, but I have a guess...My dad, maybe even my mom..."

"They didn't tell you?"

"He hit me, Patrick, he could've killed my mom. He lost it, his grip on reality, I mean."

"I didn't know...I'm-"

"Don't be. You didn't know," she agreed. He patted her shoulder and smiled lightly.

"She's going to need food," Charlotte said, looking over at Daryl. They had only learned so far that the baby was a girl. By the looks of it, Rick and Shane looked like they felt guilty. She didn't want them to blame themselves...these things just happened...whatever it was that happened anyway.

"Let's go get 'er some," Daryl said. "Ya know where to find some?" he asked. She shook her hed.

"Maggie or Glenn might," she suggested. They made their way over to the couple.

"Do know where we can get baby formula?" Charlotte asked.

"I've been keepin' an eye on a few places...I think I know where we can find some. Why don' we all go?" Maggie knew that Daryl wouldn't want to leave Charlotte and she didn't want to leave Glenn.

"Which way out?"

"Go right outa here an' head south for a few miles..."

"The bike will be faster," Charlotte said. "You can weave through stuff and that way. All four of us don't need to go. We need people here to keep the rest of the group safe from whatever threat may still be here."

"It makes sense..." Glenn agreed.

"You two go, Maggie know where it's at," Charlotte pointed between Daryl and Maggie.

The four of them looked at each other and silently agreed to this plan of action. It was the best thing for all of them to do in this situation.

"Be careful," Charlotte told Daryl, kissing him quickly. "Love you."

"Love ya," he replied, giving her the smallest of smiles as she retreated back inside. She found Beth holding the baby in the main area.

"Can I hold her?" Charlotte asked. Beth nodded and handed the little baby over to the older woman. "Hi honey," Charlotte said. The baby looked up at her with blue eyes that she had only seen on two people. Rick and Carl. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Rick's baby. Shane would likely be pretty relieved. She was a beautiful baby though, Charlotte would give them that. She remembered when all three of the other kids were babies too, they were always adorable babies as well.

"She's really something..." Beth said. "If we had to loose somebody, I'm glad we get to keep her."

"Me too," Charlotte agreed.

"Grace's baby will be beautiful too, I'm sure," Beth said.

Charlotte worried about the babies. They were so innocent and helpless at the same time. One baby was enough to have in the group, but they were going to have two in a two short months and they would have to worry another one...

**AN: This one was longer, yay! I didn't even see the word count until I just uploaded it to my docs and I thought that it would be more than it was though...I hope you liked it, I wasn't sure where to end it, so please review. It is so awesome to read all of those, they really make my day. Thanks guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Charlotte, can I talk to ya, a minute?" Rick asked, he looked distraught, his dark hair was disheveled and his blue eyes looked tired. Charlotte had been talking to Beth quietly before Rick came in, nobody had really seen him since everything with Lori. He had gone back into the prison like a madman.

"Sure Rick, what's up?" she asked, following him back towards where the cells were.

"I got a phone call...someone that says that they have room for us...that it's safe..."

"A phone call?" Charlotte asked skeptically. Rick nodded, not picking up on her skepticism. "Who was it?"

"They didn't leave a name...But I'm going to try talking them into taking us all..."

"That would be great, Rick," she said, resting her hand on his arm. Maybe things with Lori had hit him much harder than they all had thought. "Can you call them back or-?"

"No, they'll call me...I have to get back down there..."

"Why don't you rest for a while and I'll watch the phone. I'll take Aidan or Carl and have them come get you when the phone rings." Rick shook his head dismissively.

"No, I've got it...I just had to tell somebody..."

"Okay," she said. Letting him work things out on his own would be a lot easier than arguing with him about it, but she did think that it was important to tell Shane or somebody about Rick's current state because it could get dangerous. "Be careful though...okay?" she eyed him carefully.

"I will," he nodded. "I can always count on you to listen, Charlotte. Thank you."  
"Anytime," she replied. As soon as Rick went back to wherever he had been, Charlotte went off in search of Shane. Daryl was busy helping Glenn with some of the walker bodies. She didn't want to go out there and distract him, especially if Shane was already in here. She went to his cell, but he wasn't there. She walked back down from the second level and she heard him saying something before she saw him. He was standing, shirtless, outside of Nora's cell talking to Aidan and Carl.

"Hey," she said, when there was a break in the conversation. She had seen him shirtless more times than she could count, so she simply ignored it.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked. Unlike Rick, he was calm about the whole situation.

"We need to talk," she tried to tell him with the look in her eyes that it was something important.

"What 'bout?" he asked.

"Something very, very important."

"Boys, why don' ya go run 'long so we can talk?" Shane suggested, seeing the desperation in Charlotte's eyes.

"Mom, when you're done talking to dad, can I talk to you?" Aidan asked.

"Of course, give us like ten minutes..." Aidan nodded and he and Carl went on their way. Charlotte led the way out of the prison so that they could talk outside. Shane had grabbed a T-shirt from Nora's cell before going with Charlotte though.

"Look, 'bout Nora I can-"

"Shane, this isn't about your love life, I'm happy for you though, whatever is going on," Charlotte smiled at him. "She seems really sweet."

"She is...she really is..." he smiled a little bit. Charlotte was glad to see him happy, Daryl made her happy and Shane deserved the same thing.

"This is about something...bigger though..." she bit her lip.

"Yer not pregnant, are you?" he asked.

"No!" she exclaimed. "We definitely don't need another baby around here. Hell, I'm gonna be a grandma soon...and you're gonna be a grandpa..."

"Ain't we a little young for this?" he laughed.

"Yeah, but it's too late now," she shrugged. "This is about Rick, actually..."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's...I don't know how to explain it Shane...he thinks somebody is calling him. But, obviously that's impossible, right? It's not like the phone actually works..."

"I don' kno', Char. We can' 'xactly be sure. I'll go check on 'im, 'kay?"  
"Okay, that'll work...He just seems...out of it. The whole Lori thing hit him pretty hard..."

"Which is weirder than hell, 'specially since he acted like he hated 'er..."

"Think about it, when you're married to someone, they know everything about you...I don't think he's upset that he's lost her, I think it's the small piece of his old life that he's lost. He doesn't have the woman that we used to have cookouts with. It's the idea of her that he misses."

"Maybe," Shane agreed. Charlotte was always smart. She always knew what was going on before anybody else did. "Where's he at?" Charlotte shrugged.

"I haven't a clue. Do you need help or-?"

"Nah, go talk to our kid," Shane replied.

"Alright."

"This sucks," Glenn said, annoyed. He was sick of walkers getting different group members. "T-Dog was a good man, Carol was a wonderful woman, and Lori left behind two kids! Is nobody safe anymore? Why can't we just have some time to relax and just be...happy?"

"'Cause we'd get too comfortable," Daryl replied, tossing a walker into the burn pile. "We'd all get used to it, an' then we'd forget how to survive."

"I want things to go back to the way they were. I just want to deliver pizzas and then you could go back to whatever you did..."

"It don' work that way," Daryl shrugged. He knew that he would just be wasting his breath complaining about the way things were, it wouldn't change a thing. Things would be the way things were until they weren't that way anymore, it was that simple and he couldn't do a thing about it.

"I know," Glenn sighed. "If the world did go back to normal...I would marry Maggie. I'd find us a big house and have kids, everything," Glenn wasn't sure why he was telling all of this to Daryl. He was just so fed up with everything. Emotions were running high for everyone and this was Glenn's way of venting.

"I don' know what I'd do," Daryl admitted. Maybe he would get married but he didn't know. He didn't know how he felt about the idea of being married, he hadn't ever planned on it, but maybe Charlotte was the right girl but...He didn't know for sure.

"What's the matter, Aidan?" Charlotte asked. The little boy shrugged with a frown.

"I don't want Daddy to forget about me..."

"What do you mean?"

"He's with Nora now...They're like dating or something...I feel like I'm gonna end up all by myself. Grace is too busy to car what you or dad does. Daddy's got Nora and her kids...and then you've got Daryl. What if you two have kids together? Are you going to forget about me?"

"Sweetie, I could never forget about you. You will always be my son! Even if Daryl and I had children-which I don't think will happen anytime soon, maybe not ever, I wouldn't forget about you or Grace. I love you both more than anything on this Earth and so does your dad, trust me."

"I don't know...Nora's kids are younger and cuter..."

"No they aren't you're absolutely adorable!" she promised him. "If you're so worried about it, go talk to him."

"I don't want to...What if he gets mad at me..."

"Do you want me to talk to him instead?" she asked.

"Yes," he pouted.

"Okay," she gave him a smile, hoping that he would return it, but he didn't. "Something else on your mind?" she asked.

"What if Grace dies like Lori did? I don't want to lose my older sister..."

"Things are different with Grace. She's younger and she's stronger..."

"Promise me she's gonna be okay?"

"Aidan..." she started. She couldn't promise him that because if something did happen, he would be mad at her forever.

"You can't even promise me that!"

"Nothing is certain...I want everything to be okay too, but all we can do it hope. I will do all that is is my power to keep her safe, but if I promise you that she's okay and something goes wrong, you'll be mad at me, won't you?"

Aidan let out a sigh before nodding. "I can talk to dad..."

"I'll do it if that's what you want, please don't be mad at me..." Charlotte said, if she knew anything it was that anybody could die in the blink of an eye anymore.

"You seem...tense," Charlotte said as Daryl walked in, sitting on the makeshift bed they shared. He just shook his head as he sat down too. His back was too her and she massaged his shoulders a little bit. There was built up tension there too. "Wanna talk or something?" she offered. She knew that Daryl wasn't much of a talker, but she felt like she needed to offer anyway.

Daryl shook his head. All of this death was bothering him a little. He didn't like actually feeling close to people and losing them.

"Do you want to do something else?" she offered, moving closer to him to rest her chin on his shoulder. "It has been a while," she murmured. She didn't know what else to suggest, she wanted him to open up a bit and she thought that might help him to open up about stuff. And, they hadn't been close like that in a while too. He turned his head and looked at her. Losing her, was probably the biggest fear that he had. She gave him a slight smile and pressed a soft kiss to the side of it neck, she pressed another then another up to his jaw.

"Mm," he replied, turning to meet her lips. "I love ya, Charlotte," he said. She smiled and kissed him again. Even though they had said it before, it never got old.

"I love you," she replied, kissing him again. Once their kiss broke, she stood up from the bed and repositioned herself on his lap to deepen their kisses. He started to pull her t-shirt up, to take it off of her, but he settled with resting his large hands under her shirt to rest on her bare back. Her hands rested on the sides of his neck and her fingers played with his long hair. It had grown out quite a bit since they had first met, but she kind of liked it. She liked that he kind of looked like a bad boy. He had the long hair, the motorcycle, and the sleeveless shirts.

He pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair and let her brown hair fall onto her shoulder and down her back. Her hair had gotten longer recently too. It fell to about the middle of her back now, it was barely past her shoulder blades before, but she realized that she probably needed to cut it because more of it was more split ends than anything, not like it mattered. She would've cared before, but that clearly wasn't her main concern.

"Mommy!" a voice screamed. Charlotte pulled away from Daryl and fixed her shirt. She ran out to the rest of the cell block to see what was the matter.

"Grace?" she called.

"Ow, it hurts...it hurts," she whined from inside of her cell. "Ew..." she complained. "I think the baby's coming..."

**AN: Please review :) They influence when the next chapter will be out...**

**Anybody that's a breaking bad fan, I've started a fan fiction for that if you wanna check it out, it's called "Lab Partners for Life". **


	6. Chapter 6

Mostly everyone was awake for the birth of Grace's child. They wanted something happy after the last few days. Charlotte was the one that would be delivering her grandchild with the help of Hershel. Everyone else was to stay out of the room because they didn't want to take any risks. If something did happen, and Grace died while giving birth, Hershel would be the one to end it, he could never ask Charlotte to do such a thing.

"What do you think it'll be?" Shane asked his son, trying to get Aidan involved and not just looking off into space.

"I don't know..."

"Well you're gonna be an uncle," Shane pointed out.

"An uncle?" Aidan hadn't thought about that. He just thought about it as there was going to be another baby in the group, not that he was related to it that closely.

"Yeah, Grace's yer sister, silly," he smiled.

"That makes you a grandpa," Aidan wrinkled his nose. "You're old now!" Shane laughed fully at that.

"Yer mom's gonna be a grandma."

"She's not old enough for that, though."

Shane laughed again. "Me an' yer mom're the same age.

"No...you're older, aren't you?"

"By less than a year."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Wait then how old are you?" he asked Daryl.

"Old enough," Daryl replied. He didn't really like being surrounded by everyone like this.

"Are you older than my mom?"

"Reckon so," neither he nor Charlotte really cared about age, so they hadn't actually asked each other.

Aidan let the conversation go for a while, and everyone just sat in silence for a few hours. Some people fell asleep and once dawn broke, Glenn and Maggie went to take watch. Rick was still off doing whatever, and Aidan had fallen asleep while sitting on his dad.

"You guys wanna see him?" Charlotte asked, a large smile on her face, looking out at Shane, Daryl, Aidan, and Carl.

"Him?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, we've got a grandson," she smiled. When the had all gathered in the cell, Grace had already fallen asleep and Hershel gave the little baby to Charlotte. "Look at him, isn't he the most precious thing?"

"I bet I was cuter," the now awake, Aidan, said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You were adorable, Sweetie," Charlotte assured him.

Liam, Grace had named the baby, had big brown eyes and a smile that hadn't left his face yet. His eyes weren't like Josh's were, they reminded Charlotte of Aidan's, they were warm and inviting.

"Can I hold 'im?" Shane asked. Charlotte nodded and passed the baby to Shane. He had always liked babies, like when Grace was little, it was a miracle that she ever left his arms.

"Hey there, Grandma," Daryl said, nudging Charlotte's shoulder with a smirk. She was standing on the upper level of the cell block, watching as Grace held Liam and talked to Patrick. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was just observing.

"Hi," she laughed. "God, I feel old..."

"Ya ain' old," he told her. It seemed that age was a popular topic today. "I wanna show ya somethin'," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"Don' ask questions, jus' follow me," he replied. He led the way out of the cell block and then out of the prison. They went to the courtyard and he led the way over to his bike.

"Are we leaving the prison?" she asked, ignoring his request for her not to ask questions.

"We ain't goin' far," he said, a small smirk on his face. He got on the bike and she followed, unsure of what he had planned. She liked this side of him though. He started the bike and drove to the fence. She hopped off before he had the chance and opened it. She didn't see the sense in him doing it when he was the one driving the bike. She waved him though and then closed it behind him. She got back on the bike and they drove down the road for about two minutes, at which point he stopped at a small orchard. "Peaches," he said, putting the kickstand down.

"Why are we at a peach farm?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Change a scenery. An' we can bring some fruit back."

"How did you manage to find this? Haven't we been down this strip before?" he shrugged again. He had been scouting around the prison, looking for something to hunt and he had somehow stumbled across a peach farm. He didn't know how, but it was just there. "This is so cool."

"'S what I thought," he plucked a peach and took a large bite out of it. It had been so long since anything like this had been available. They had canned fruit, sure, but nothing in a can could ever measure up to the natural sweetness of fresh fruit.

She mimicked his movements and picked a peach of her own, after taking a bite she looked at him with a huge grin. "This is amazing...Oh my God, I love you!" she exclaimed, taking another bite of her peach. It was so sweet and so juicy.

Daryl smiled a little. He liked that his surprise made her so happy. "We shoul' take some a these back to the rest of 'em, let's head back..."

"We didn't get very far last night," she pointed out.

"Not here," he said. He wanted to but not in the middle middle of some area where they could be attacked by walkers or even people at any moment.

Charlotte frowned a little. She understood though. It wouldn't be wise to do _that_ here. "Well then let's head back."

"Oh my God, mom, how did you get peaches? _Real peaches_?" Grace asked. Charlotte smiled.

"Daryl. He found 'em. Where's Liam?"

"Dad has him," Grace replied.

"Grace?" came a voice from outside the cell. Charlotte turned around and saw Maggie and Glenn standing there. They were dressed like they were going somewhere.

"Hey, what's up?"

"We're makin' a run for baby stuff. Want anythin'?" Maggie asked. Grace looked to her mother.

"We could always use blankets...Diapers would be great too, maybe a stuffed toy for each of the babies too."

"We'll see what we can do," Glenn smiled. "I'll see you guys later," he waved as they went on their way.

"I'm going to go find your dad and Liam. Need anything?" Charlotte looked to Grace, who simply shook her head. Charlotte left the cell and went off to find her grandchild. She didn't have to look for long, he was in Nora's cell, where he had been rather frequently lately.

"Hey Char, what's up?"

"I was just coming to hold little Liam..." she said, smiling.

"No way, 'm keepin' 'im," Shane replied. "Reminds me a Aidan. I swear this baby ain't gonna cry..."

"He will, eventually," she smiled. Aidan had been a curious baby. He was always using his big brown eyes to look at things. He only cried if they left him alone.

"Maybe 's a Walsh thing though, whatcha think?"

"Maybe," Charlotte agreed. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you guys a couple of peaches if you give me the baby," she offered.

"Peaches?"

"Yeah, fresh ones," she grinned. Shane looked tempted by her offer. It took him a moment to give in, but he did.

"Show me the peaches first," he said. She pulled out two peaches from the bag she was carrying and held them out to Shane. "We trade on three, a'right?"

"Alright," she agreed. "One."

"Two."

"Three," they traded. She held her grandson and smiled down at the little boy. He was so cute! She couldn't get over that fact.

"He looks a lot like Grace..." she pointed out. Most people couldn't tell that just yet because he wasn't grown up enough, but Charlotte had held Grace when she was this little and there was a strong resemblance. She was glad that Liam looked like Grace rather than Josh, that would probably be a little difficult for them all.

"I thouh' so too," Shane replied. "Thanks for the peaches," he said.

"Mm hmm. I'm off to hand out some more." She took Liam back up to Grace because she knew that she needed to check in on Rick, somebody had to. He was still in the boiler room. She took cautious steps in there and found him sitting on the floor with a scruffy beard and messy hair. He looked like he hadn't slept though any of it. She was still surprised that any of this was affecting him like it was. "Hey there," she said.

"They won't let us stay with them..." he murmured. There was something after it but it was completely inaudible.

"That's too bad," she replied. "It looks like we'll just have to make do on our on for a while."

"What if we don't survive? What if we loose Carl or the baby?" he asked.

"We won't because we're strong. We're going to get through all of this. Rick, you've gotta leave this room. You've gotta do something. You need to eat and wash up a bit...Carl and the baby need their dad, you can't just stay down here and hide. They need you..." she had to emphasize that fact because it was true and they had to be his reason to keep on living.

"Y'all would be capable of takin' care of them if somethin' happened to me, right?"

"It's not going to come to that," she said.

"Haven't you realized?" he asked.

"Realized what?"

"Nobody's safe, Charlotte. Nobody. Ever. Lori died havin' a baby...Carol and T-Dog died trying to just...live! We're all going to die eventually and I don't want to have a hand in that...I just want it all to end."

"Don't say that," she said. She sat down on the cool concrete and rubbed a hand on his back soothingly. Maybe he just needed someone to be there with him right now. She could do that...but he wasn't himself.

The man sitting before her wasn't Rick Grimes, he was a mere shadow of the man that he once was. He wasn't the strong police officer that she had once been best friends with, now he was a broken man losing his grip on life. If he didn't want to live in this world, he wouldn't. One thing that Charlotte had learned was that you had to keep your spirits up and want to live or you wouldn't. Negativity wouldn't get them anywhere.

**AN: Please review. **


	7. Chapter 7

A few nights after Liam was born Charlotte and Daryl finally got their alone time in their 'room'. Charlotte felt so soothed by the sound of Daryl's heartbeat and his rhythmic breathing for two reasons; if his heart was beating, he was still alive and it was something that stayed the same. There was also the cliche answer that it was simply something that relaxed her. They faced constant change and constant fear of what would not be the same tomorrow.

Charlotte brought herself out of her slight trance and looked up at Daryl, he was looking off, much like she probably had been a few moments ago. She knew that face, it was his thinking face. Instead of asking him what he was thinking about, like she would have if it had been somebody else, she waited for him to tell her. She had learned something about Daryl, he was a lot different from everybody else and it had taken him this long to be comfortable with their closeness and if he thought something was important for her to know, he would tell her and she just had to wait for him to say it rather than press him for a response.

"I don' say it 'nough," he finally spoke after about five minute of silence. "But ya mean a lot to me...Hell I might not be here if I didn't have you to think 'bout." They may have been past the initial 'I love you' and they still said it when it was important, but Daryl wasn't one to say it every second of ever day and he probably didn't say it as much as he should.

Charlotte wasn't sure how to respond to that, it made her heart skip a beat and she just wanted to kiss him, but she couldn't form words. She couldn't make a coherent sentence for what he had just told her. To her, that meant so much more than 'I love you' this wasn't something that Daryl just said, he always meant what he said. "Daryl..." she spoke carefully. "I..." she tried not to let her shock show and she tried not to make it clear that she had been completely spun around. "I don't know how I could have gotten though the past year without you...I don't understand how pure, stupid, luck turned into something so great...I...you're great, y'know that? You're the best thing that has come out of the apocalypse." She got up on her elbows and faced him before pressed a loving kiss firmly on his lips. "I love you," she whispered, kissing him again. Daryl held the back of her head and kissed her again. He had never felt so close to one person and usually, no matter the circumstance, he wouldn't say those things to anybody, but it was like his lips couldn't keep his thought trapped in this time.

"We need some shut eye," he broke away from the kiss. He knew that they were headed down a dangerous road and if they started up again, they would never get to sleep. Charlotte frowned a little, but she understood.

"Want your clothes?" she asked. They typically redressed because they knew that they needed to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"Yeah," he murmured, feeling the need to sleep.

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked Carl as he walking into the prison, looking rather serious in Rick's sheriff hat.

"We found a woman...She had some formula and a stuffed bear with her," he explained. "Dad an' Uncle Shane are bringin' her in."

That sounded rather peculiar. A random woman was just suddenly outside and had a teddy bear and baby formula? Charlotte walked into the other section of the cell block as Shane and Rick brought a dark skinned woman with dread locks in. Her arms were over their shoulders and she was bleeding from her leg.

"Was she bit?" Charlotte looked back and forth between the two men. Rick quickly gave the unconscious girl a once over, checking under the back of her shirt and he didn't see anything so he simply shook his head.

"Shot though. In the leg," he answered.

"I'll take care of it," Charlotte offered.

"We need answers first," Rick's voice had a dark edge to it that Charlotte didn't really like. It wasn't so much that he was implying torture, but that was what it meant when they boiled it all down.

"I'm sure she'll be grateful that we took her in, Rick. I-"

"I'll call you when I need you," he said it with such finality that she knew not to argue, he was the one that they had voted leader, even though she was kind of rethinking that now.

"He's changed...I don't really get it, but he's not himself..." Charlotte told Shane as they were walking away together. The dark haired man simply nodded in agreement.

"It's 'cause of Lori, y'know."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go take watch. Check in on Grace later? Please?"

"'Course I will," he needed to look in on his daughter anyway. "'S 'mazin' that the apocalypse was the thing that got Grace an' Aidan to stop their fightin'," he smirked.

"Tell me about it," she scoffed, walking away.

Charlotte knew that Rick would call for her to come take the bullet out of that woman's leg, but she felt the need to leave the prison for a while, those walls could be suffocating if she stayed in there too long. She was thankful to have them, but she also hated feeling like a trapped rat.

"How is everything?" Carl asked Grace, walking into her cell as she changed Liam's diaper.

"Smelly," she replied, wrinkling her nose. Carl broke a smile as he walked closer.

"Yeah, diapers can smell pretty bad..." he chuckled.

"Tell me about it...You would think that it wouldn't bother me after all of the dead people..."

"All of this is weird," Carl was the first to point it out. When he compared things from way back when to now, it was so...strange. "I never thought any of this would happen."

"Tell me about it," Grace scoffed.

"Why don't we hang out anymore? We used to be such good friends..."

"I don't know. Maybe we should change that," her mouth quipped into a small smile. "You could always help me on diaper duty."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Can I hold Liam?"

"Yeah," she passed her son over and Carl took him in his arms gently.

"He looks kind of like you..."

"He has eyes like Aidan though-I'm glad he doesn't look like...Josh..."

"That would have been..._bad_," Carl agreed, adding extra emphasis on the 'bad'.

"I don't know if I could have ever looked at the kid, as awful as that sounds."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Back home, if things would've stayed the same, do you think that you would have ever thought of me as more than a friend?"

"You mean like a boyfriend?" her smile faded just a little as he gave the baby back.

"Eventually," he blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, now regretting his question.

"Hey y'all," Shane greeted walking in, grinning at the two.

"Hi, I uh, should uh, go check in on Judith..." Carl quickly left the cell, his cheeks blazing.

"The hell's that 'bout?" Shane asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Grace assured him with a slight smile. She was glad that she had some time to think about it. Maybe she could think of him like that, even though she had just seen him as a friend. He was no where near annoying enough to be like a brother to her.

Later, after Charlotte had gotten the bullet from Michonne's leg, she and Daryl were with Liam in Grace's room. Grace had gone to take a shower. Charlotte crossed her arms and watched as Daryl held the baby. She couldn't keep the smile from her lips as he did so. He was so cute with children.

"What'd Rick learn earlier?" Daryl asked, referring to the conversation with Michonne.

"Not much...He's talking to her now..." Charlotte was glad that Rick hadn't used torture. "You're so good with him," Charlotte found her smile widening.

"I ain't doin' much..."

"Carl used to cry every time Rick would hold him," Charlotte thought back. "So I'd say you're already ahead."

"Dunno why kids like me," he shrugged.

"If you want a kid...y'know...of your own...I mean we could..." Charlotte trailed off. She didn't know how to finish her sentence. Daryl looked up at her with a confused look. "I'm trying to say, if you want your own kid...We could have one." She hadn't even considered it until she said it. She didn't want to be that mom with children fifteen and eleven years apart. That was a lot, she wasn't old it was still kind of odd.

"Havin' kids ain't safe," Daryl replied. He didn't know what to think. He had never even considered kids of his own. He had never wanted them out of fear.

"You can't be afraid to live," she shrugged. She kept speaking without thinking about it. She could only assume that this was how she really felt. Maybe she did want to have another child, this time with Daryl.

"Charlotte, Daryl, we need you guys, right now," Carl popped his head into the cell and they hurriedly made their way into the main area. They had a bad feeling about this.

**AN: This chapter was kind of just a filler. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a LOOOOONNNNNGGGG time...I've been writing other stuff and I had honestly more or less forgotten about it so thank you ****BIGJONES**** for your PM sometimes y'all have to do that because I do get busy and forget. Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Mom, are you feeling okay?" Grace asked, watching her mom sniffle a little. Rick, Shane, Daryl, Oscar had left to rescue Maggie and Glenn.

"Yeah...it's just...I worry, y'know?" Charlotte stood up and decided to take a walk. "I'll be back," she told her daughter before heading outside. She wanted to breath in the fresh air for a few moments. Fresh air filled her lungs, clearing her head a little. She walked outside and there she found Nora standing and looking off into the distance. "They'll be back," Charlotte found herself placing a hand on the other woman's back.

"I shouldn't miss him like this," Nora looked over at Charlotte. "It is wrong of me to like him, isn't it?"  
"No."

"It's wrong of me to miss him and want him here for my children though...I shouldn't..."

"Nora, listen to me. Shane is a good man. You have no reason for feeling bad about liking him. He has always been there for me, if not as a husband than a friend. You're instincts tell him that he's good, right?"

"Yeah but-"

"Exactly. Just go with that. That's all we have to rely on now, our instincts. There are no rules, no laws that keep us who we are. We have to do that ourselves."

"I guess you are right. I hadn't really thought of it that way..." Nora gave Charlotte a smile of understanding.

The feeling that something had gone wrong started to gnaw away at Charlotte. She felt like something wasn't right with Daryl and the others in the early hours of the morning. This was the first time that she had thought about what would actually happen if any of the people out there died. Of course, if anything happened to Daryl, that would be the hardest on her. But then there was Shane. She may have divorced him, but her children needed their father. Her grandson needed his grandfather. She couldn't imagine Carl losing his father or Hershel losing his daughter and the man that had practically been a son to him.

She had to leave the room that she shared with Daryl. Every inch of it reminded her that he wasn't there. She grabbed clean clothes and a her soap before deciding that a cold shower was her best option. She made her way into the shower room, trying not to think of all the things that likely occurred here before the apocalypse and she switched on the cold water.

As much as she tried to suppress the thoughts, they kept emerging. She could feel her stomach churning unpleasantly. She could feel the inside of her cheeks begin to water. She used the wall for support as she emptied her stomach contents onto the floor. She watched as the water from the shower pushed the bile down the drain and away. She hated all of this so much. She couldn't believe that she was becoming physically ill over this. She had to ignore it and tell herself that everything would be okay. That was the only thing that she could do now.

"Mom," Grace stood at her mother's doorway and looked into the room. She saw the bed empty and unmade. "Where is she, Liam?" the teenager asked her son gently. He smiled brightly at her as Grace made her way down the long, concrete hallway. She figured that Charlotte was likely to be in the shower room. That was one of her stress releasing tactics before the apocalypse-to shower. "Mom," she called again.

"Hm?" Charlotte turned around, now dressed with her hair pulled up and away from her face.

"Um...They're back..." Grace decided not to specify who. She couldn't be the one to deliver the news. She hated that she was still a child in some ways, but Grace still couldn't bring herself to see the hurt in her mother's eyes like that.

"Okay!" the smile on her face appeared right away. Grace felt the guilt in the pit of her stomach set in. She didn't want to see the smile fade or the tears come.

Graced hoped that she was wrong in someway, that she had just over looked Daryl in the group outside of the window. Or, perhaps he pulled up a few moments later in a separate vehicle. But somehow, she knew that wasn't the case. She knew that he wasn't with the group outside.

Charlotte's legs moved as quickly as they could as she ran down the corridors and out the front. She skidded to a stop on the gravel. "Hey, Char," Shane greeted, offering her a halfhearted smile. It didn't even travel up to his normally happy brown eyes. She knew something was wrong. The sickening feeling returned once more before he even said another word.

"Where is he?"

"Charlotte-"

"Oh God...he's...he's-"

"He ain't dead, okay? He's...with is brother."  
"What?"

"Look, lemme explain. Ya see, 's like this. We got Maggie an' Glenn out, then it was chaos in that town. Daryl got separated and captured-"

"You son of a bitch you just left him-"

"Goddammit, Charlotte. Stop. Okay? Stop. I didn't leave 'im. We all went back for 'im, but Merle was there. Rick wouldn't let Merle come back, so Daryl went with him. But-"  
Charlotte stopped listening, she went over to Rick and slapped him hard on the face.

"Charlotte!" Shane exclaimed. She didn't even look at him, she just started crying and yelling and she turned into this emotional wreck. Shane pulled her back and let her cry against him for a minute. Once she calmed down, she pulled away. "Look, that ain't all of it."

"What do you mean?"  
"I mean he didn't jus' leave ya. I know ya an' that's what yer thinkin'. He said he'd like ya to meet 'im at the peach farm if ya wanna go with him. He's not comin' back here."

"The peach farm?" Neither of them told anyone about that place so it had to be true. He didn't just abandon her.

**AN: Sorry it's short. I didn't want to leave y'all on a cliff hanger to top it off. Please review. **


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